PETALING JAYA: A video of a 27-year-old girl allegedly assaulted by a taxi driver at a petrol station at Jalan Persiaran Kayangan in Section 7 Shah Alam has gone viral on social media. According to Shah Alam police chief ACP Azisman Alias, the incident happened on March 29 and started after an accident between their cars at about 3.30pm. Azisman added that both the girl and the cabbie lodged police reports at Shah Alam police station and the girl's father who also turned up later at the police station assaulted the taxi driver.

— AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Ninety three per cent of Malaysians are prepared to leave the country in search of jobs and experience, according to a new employment survey that has dire implications on Malaysia’s chronic brain drain. In its regional survey, recruitment firm Hays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles. This mobility is compounded by a previous Hays study that showed five per cent of the Malaysian workforce exited the country annually, with Singapore being the prime destination.

– Reuters pic, March 31, 2015.National coaches Rashid Sidek and Rosman Razak have decided to not renew their contracts which ended today, despite a review of salary by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). BAM technical director Morten Frost Hansen said the coaches had made the decision after receiving better offers from other parties. "From the BAM part, we would like to thank both the coaches for having done a great job over the years and wish them all the best and good luck for the future," he said in a press conference at the Malaysia Open Premier Super Series at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. "She (Pek Siah) is actually an experienced coach, she has experience in Japan as well as some international exposure.

IPOH: The third term of the 13th state assembly sitting started on the wrong footing when 26 Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen wore black suits instead of the ceremonial dress, which was officiated by the Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizuddin Shah here today. Clearly unhappy with the turn of events, Sultan Nazrin even snubbed the traditional group photography session with the elected representatives from PR and Barisan Nasional. After delivering his speech, he left the state secetariat building. All the 31 BN assemblymen attended the opening session in their ceremonial dress.

— Picture by Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Umno member Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah urged journalists today to continue reporting without fear or favour despite the arrest of four journalists from news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and their publisher for sedition. Saifuddin, who is currently a columnist and used to be an editor, also said that things have gone from “bad to worse” now, amid a slew of investigations under the Sedition Act 1948 against opposition politicians and social activists as well. “This persecution might affect some, but my plea is, please be steadfast,” Saifuddin told Malay Mail Online.

KUALA LUMPUR: The retail prices of RON95, RON97 and diesel for April 2015 remain unchanged, according to the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) yesterday.The price of RON95 is unchanged at RM1.95 per litre, RON97 at RM2.25

— Picture by Malay MailKUALA PILAH, March 31 — Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek today denied a Facebook report that he was stepping down following the hike in petrol prices tomorrow. Hasan claimed certain quarters had falsified his Facebook account, and had put in the entry that he would resign if the prices of petrol (RON95, RON97 and diesel) go up on April 1. "I hope the people can evaluate and do not believe the report," he told reporters after a ceremony to hand over aid to the Village Development and Security Committees in the Kuala Pilah Parliamentary constituency here, today. According to the report, "Datuk Seri Hasan Malek gives his assurance there would be no hike in the prices of petrol and diesel soon, despite a slight increase of the fuels in the market.

PETALING JAYA: Superstar Jermaine Jackson is in town but this time, he is not singing for his fans. A member of the pop group The Jacksons, he was accompanying Sultanah Pahang Sultanah Kalsom in paying a visit to the OrphanCare Foundation in Kampung Tunku near here. Jackson lauded the initiatives of the foundation, whose patron was Sultanah Kalsom. Meanwhile, Sultanah Kalsom urged more individuals and companies to support the foundation’s noble efforts.

— Reuters picTHE HAGUE, March 31 — Jewish teenager Anne Frank died in a Nazi concentration camp at least a month earlier than her official date of death, a new study said today. “New research... has shed fresh light on the last days of Anne Frank and her sister Margot,” the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam said today, until now her official death date. The deaths of Anne Frank and her younger sister Margot in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany were noted as between 1-31 March by the Red Cross at the time.

— Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The federal government may face a backlash from the perceived "excessive" arrests and sedition probe of news portal The Malaysian Insider's (TMI) editors, Umno MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today. Nur Jazlan said he believed TMI's report was just an "honest mistake" that could have been dealt with a defamation suit by the Conference of Rulers, instead of a sedition probe. "If the public thinks this arrest shouldn't have been done because of the mistake in the story that could have been dealt with other laws, then there will be a negative perception on government," the Pulai MP told reporters in Parliament when asked if the arrests were meant to intimidate journalists. "But for editors of Insider to be hauled in, arrested and put in jail for a story which I think is an error, I think that may be perceived as excessive by the people and may have a backlash on the government in the longer-term," said Nur Jazlan, who is also chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

HANOI, March 31 —An adventurer has unveiled stunning footage taken using a drone of the world’s largest cave, the Hang Son Doong in Vietnam.
Ryan Deboodt took a drone inside Hang Son Doong and captured stunning footage that shows off a world

Not many were shocked at the news that Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew died on March 23, weeks after being in intensive care. The unending crowds who queued for hours to pay their last respects and the thousands of honest, poignant outpourings of grief and tributes gave those of us who were mere observers a glimpse into the mark Kuan Yew made, not just on Singapore, but on the world. Almost every accolade given to Kuan Yew has acknowledged his role in driving a tiny nation from obscurity into one of the world’s most successful economies. Article after article, and in every obituary and compliment, the success of Kuan Yew and that of Singapore – the absolute object of his passion – have been laid out for all the world to behold and, for some of us, to envy.

– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 31, 2015.Putrajaya will spend some RM690 million to maintain a newly-acquired private jet used by the prime minister for the next 15 years, PKR's Rafizi Ramli revealed today. He said that the cost including services to maintain an older private jet for the next seven years, the total costs for operation, maintenance and management (OMM) of both aircraft would come to a whopping RM1.098 billion. "The contract for OMM for the new ACJ320 jet shows that the costs have been set at RM46 million per year. This means that in the next 15 years, when the hire purchase agreement ends, the total OMM costs will be RM690 million," he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

— AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew’s death leaves Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the last of the “Machiavellian” leaders of the region, and is inviting comparison between the two men’s legacy and achievements. In one such evaluation by the Associated Press, Lee was lauded for transforming Singapore from a swampy backwater into an efficient first-world state with good governance while Dr Mahathir is described as fostering political patronage through cronyism and achieving less than his contemporary despite greater resources.

– Reuters pic, March 31, 2015.Uncertainties in the currency market driven by greed and fear have led to the fluctuation of the value of the ringgit, which should be trading at RM3.30 against the US dollar based on the currency fundamentals, says Malayan Banking Bhd president and chief executive Datuk Abdul Farid Alias. Asked whether rising interest rates would affect the local currency, Abdul Farid said a lot of volatility is driven by liquidity movement.

— Picture by K.E. OoiGEORGE TOWN, March 31 — The attack on an infant full-moon party on Sunday night is believed to be a fight involving the “04” Indian gang, said Penang Police Chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi. According the Abdul Rahim, a 50-year-old man who was slashed several times in the attack by about eight assailants was just a guest in the event at a restaurant in Tanjung Tokong. “He was only trying to stop them so he was slashed,” Abdul Rahim told reporters after a promotion presentation ceremony at the Penang police headquarters this morning. “It is a fight between the Indian thug gang members,” he said.

Customs director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad warns those who increased their profit margins for the next 15 months following GST will be penalised.‎ – The Malaysian Insider pic, March 31, 2015.DAP has hit out at the Royal Malaysian Customs for resorting to "wild threats and ridiculous regulations" to mitigate any inflation that would arise once the goods and services tax (GST) takes effect tomorrow. Its publicity chief Tony Pua said the Customs director-general's "panicked" warning yesterday that businesses must not increase profit margins for the next 15 months, was not just unlawful, but also impossible to administer. ‎"Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad seems to have forgotten that we don’t live in a communist country like the Soviet Union or the Mao Tze Tong China of the past where the government controls all prices and profit margins," said Pua in a statement today.

— file picKUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB) chief executive officer Datuk S. Ganeson confirmed the Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital was renting his wife’s building in Rawang, admitting it was bound to be an issue. Wisma Supiah Kanagam, located at Jalan SJ1, was rented out to the hospital since 2012. The hospital operates a clinic on the ground floor while a MAB-led programme to train visually-impaired phone operators is held at the upper floor. Two thirds of MAB council members sit in the hospital board.